On Mon, 24 Aug 1998 22:55:39 GMT, envelope@iglou.com (Ryan Stearman) wrote:

>: This is called "pushing", which tells the photo lab to increase the development
>: time to compensate for an under exposed roll of film. Shooting a 400 @ 800
>: however is only pushing the film one stop. By pushing your film, however, you
>: will add grain and contrast to your final image.

>Mmm.. Basically I was hoping I could get 800 speed exposures (the benefit
>being faster shutter, since i take lots of low-light) without the added
>grain of higher speed film.
>
>would i pretty much be canceling myself out on this??

Sometimes the one-stop push is OK, sometimes the quality loss
is too great - it depends on the film. BTW, there is a way to get
a "free" extra stop of speed (best when used with conservatively-rated
amateur color-negative materials, though it can work well enough with
slides and B&W) when shooting in interiors, especially: use a TTL
flash along with the correctly-metered ambient light and double the
ASA without changing development (both the ambient and flash metering
underexpose by one stop, but the two add together to give correct
exposure).

>i've never shot on anything above 400. is the grain increase noticably
>significant?

Yes, but it can be acceptable with a few 800-speed color negative
films.